Setting up an IW4M dedicated server on Linux

 

Requirements: Basic Linux command line knowledge.

 

Some of the commands below will only work on Debian based distributions (Debain, Ubuntu, ...). If you're using something else, you'll most likely run into problems installing the packages (e.g. you have to use yum instead of apt-get on RHEL/CentOS) and compiling wine. Please use google to find out how to do so on other distributions.

 

//Update Jul 19: Got rid of Xvfb, added tutorial on how to compile wine.

//Update Jan 2: Added CentOS/Fedora/RHEL instructions (thanks to mission)

 

When you see a list like this, execute each line consecutively through the shell:

 

• 
  command 1
  command 2
  command 3
  

But now let's get started:

 

1. Installing necessary packages

Login as root. Install the following packages:

 

Debian, Ubuntu etc.:

 

• 
  apt-get install unzip mono-complete wget nano tar bzip2 make
  

Fedora, CentOS, RHEL (?):

 

• 
  yum install unzip mono-core wget nano
  

2. Installing wine

If you already have at least version 1.4 of wine installed, skip this step.

Use

 

• 
  wine --version
  

to determine your version of wine. If you have a version older than 1.4 installed, remove it.

 

Debian, Ubuntu etc.:

 

Download the latest version of wine from http://sourceforge.net/projects/wine/files/Source/ and extract it to /usr/src. As I write this, it's wine-1.5.9:

 

• 
  cd /usr/src
  wget -O wine-1.5.9.tar.bz2

http://sourceforge.net/projects/wine/files/Source/wine-1.5.9.tar.bz2/download
tar xvf wine-1.5.9.tar.bz2
rm wine-1.5.9.tar.bz2

Install the building dependencies of wine:

 

• 
  apt-get build-dep wine
  

Compile and install wine. This will take quite a while.

 

• 
  cd /usr/src/wine-1.5.9
  ./configure
  make && make install
  

Note that you need to adjust the commands to whatever version you downloaded!

 

Fedora, CentOS, RHEL (?):

 

• 
  wget

http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/x86_64/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
rpm -Uvh epel-release-6*.rpm
yum --enablerepo=epel install wine

3. Creating a new user account

Don't use your root account to run a server. Instead, create a new one, e.g.

 

• adduser gameserver

and log in with it.

 

4. Getting the game files

Create a new folder for your gameserver files. I chose

 

• 
  mkdir ~/iw4m/
  

Upload the following files from your local MW2 installation into your newly created folder:

 

• 
  binkw32.dll
  mss32.dll
  localization.txt
   
  main\iw_00.iwd
   
  zone\dlc\* (all files)
  zone\english\*mp*.ff (every file that has "mp" somewhere in it's name)
  zone\english\contingency.ff
  zone\english\gulag.ff
  zone\english\oilrig.ff
  

(Note that instead of 'english' the folders' name will be the language of your game installation).

 

Your gameserver folder should look like this now:

 

5. Getting the server files

CD to your gameserver folder. Download the dedicated server update tool and run it. Rename iw4m.dat to iw4m.exe.

 

• 
  cd ~/iw4m/
  wget

http://fourdeltaone.net/iw4m/dsut.zip
unzip dsut.zip
rm dsut.zip
mono iw4m_updater.exe
mv iw4m.dat iw4m.exe

6. Creating a config file

Create a folder called 'players'. Download the preconfigured server.cfg and customize it as desired.

 

• 
  mkdir players
  cd players
  wget -O server.cfg

http://pastebin.com/download.php?i=5wSjHTQT
nano server.cfg

7. Port forwarding

Pick a port you want to run the server on and forward it in your firewall (TCP and UDP). I chose 28960 (standard).

 

8. Running the server

Start your server without the -console parameter using wine, for example:

 

• 
  cd ~/iw4m/
  wine iw4m.exe -dedicated +set net_port 28960 +set party_maxplayers 18 +exec server.cfg +map_rotate &
  

Stop your server by killing iw4m.exe:

 

• 
  killall -9 iw4m.exe
  

You can download the following scripts to manage your server easily:

 

• 
  cd ~/iw4m/
  wget -O start.sh

http://pastebin.com/download.php?i=Nd8khDRU
wget -O stop.sh http://pastebin.com/download.php?i=5E43ZKq4
chmod +x start.sh stop.sh

This will start your server with 18 slots on port 28960 in the background. It will also execute your server.cfg. Edit start.sh to change the parameters.

 

And that's it! Run start.sh to start your server and stop.sh to stop it:

 

• 
  cd ~/iw4m/
  ./start.sh
   
  ./stop.sh
  

Check whether your server is running via

 

• 
  ps -ef | grep iw4m.exe
  

You might see errors when starting the server. Before asking, please check if the server is running correctly despite those errors.

 

Updating the server

 

Stop your server and run the updater.

 

• 
  cd ~/iw4m/
  ./stop.sh
  mono iw4m_updater.exe
  

Hey guys,

 

i followed the instructions but the server doesnt start :/

 

gameserver@ESXi:~/iw4m$ wine iw4m.exe -dedicated +set net_port 28960 +set party_maxplayers 18 +exec server.cfg +map_rotate &
[3] 11668
gameserver@ESXi:~/iw4m$ Application tried to create a window, but no driver could be loaded.
Make sure that your X server is running and that $DISPLAY is set correctly.
err:systray:initialize_systray Could not create tray window
fixme:system:SystemParametersInfoW Unimplemented action: 59 (SPI_SETSTICKYKEYS)
fixme:system:SystemParametersInfoW Unimplemented action: 53 (SPI_SETTOGGLEKEYS)
fixme:system:SystemParametersInfoW Unimplemented action: 51 (SPI_SETFILTERKEYS)

 

any solution?

 

Make sure that your X server is running...

 

Try using 'start x' or 'startx'

If nothing happens, install Xorg or e17

Then try starting it

I fixed it, i looked in the log files, there were some files missing. I dont need the x server...